Doing By Knowing [from 'proverbs 400' In Tamil] Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

183. To afflict themselves with pain is easy
for those who begin to do crimes as the King
Ma: pali lost his whole kingdom and himself
with the thought of giving three square feet of mud.

184. O, chief of the hills with streaming falls!
When the high-born themselves speak faulty words,
is it right to blame the low-born
for their faulty words? No one is word-perfect!

185. The Chozha King questioned his people living
in sea-girt Puhar about th' measure of land.
A shameful wise man hid the fact of land-theft.
Think about the good and bad before you tell.

186. When you try to make a truce between the two
locked in a war, waged in rage, being heedless,
if they want to resume fighting, it is like
correcting the rope ‘round the head of a bull.

187. O, chief of the high rocks where the monkeys
tear off the beehives! The little help got
at once betters the huge one got late. No one
plants the palm fruit and waits to eat its fruit.

188 The wise don't do obsolete things e'en if their
minds want. Don't do the learned books ban but do
if the people want it. No one is tied to
the stake to speak ‘gainst the dictums of the books.

189. When there's every chance to be called as lame,
being hard to walk with broken head and leg,
one hesitates to walk across the river
in shrunk water, minding of the danger.

190. When one gets some space to stay in a rare place
One can get space to sleep too.
Those who seek the rich get little gruel first
And then get a large measure of food.

191. Never hurt one either the bitter words
or the sweet words. Will those who think and feel
the results of bitter and sweet words speak
harshly and live in such ways? Never!

192. To achieve what they aspire, the good work
within the bounds of their character; the vile
win their aims by vile means. Be anyone
when you do an act but yourself elsewhere

193. O, good wench looking like a portrait! Even
the great men on losing something will doubt
even the gods to have robbed it. It likens
one searching his lost long spear in a pot.

194. O, wench with spear-like eyes! This world has thieves
to steal and eat by breaking the door when the
people sleep. They go out at dawn and speak nice.
It likens the snake eaten peacock seems calm.

195. Don't annoy those who sought you. Tread in the ways
of men who renounced desires. Think deep about
the things you've mastered. Without questioning
follow the footsteps of your townspeople.